Thursday, June 16, 2011

Miss Information is annoyed by all the stupidity

Miss Information has mentioned this before but just in case you missed it, she loves her eReader. New titles are readily available from the library. Ok, perhaps there were a few rough moments, but not that many. Actual books are more complicated.

The patron who can't find her hold (obviously) disagrees. "The system is stupid!" she declares after Miss Information shows her how to find the eBooks database. Ummm....ok..."Seriously? I have to go to the library catalogue and then go to a completely different place? Why can't I just use the catalogue? This is so stupid!"

Miss Information explained that she surely can use the catalogue when she wants to download an eBook. The catalogue includes about a billion items. As of right now, only a teensy number (probably around 5000) are eBooks.

The customer goes on. She downloaded an eBook for her iPad, then she found out it wasn't compatible. That's just stupid! Not the library's fault however. Miss Information pointed out the acres of documentation on the stupid database that will help the woman avoid such things in future. The woman huffs. It's stupid not to have all the eBooks in a format compatible with her iPad. And to think she has to actually figure it out for herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It was stupid. Miss Information refrained from pointing out that the woman isn't actually forced to use any library service she finds stupid. Particularly not the ones that are stupid, stupid, stupid.

Miss Information is on vacation now. Far away from all the stupidity for a couple of weeks.

Ah eBooks...a wonderful resource if you can navigate your way through the endless (non)compatibility issues. Unfortunately sometimes when we try to provide something "easier" and "more convenient" to patrons, it just winds up causing more headaches.